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The hardware for the upcoming model Molly - the Machine.

The black anodized aluminum is sanded to produce the silver ridges. The pickups will be Lace Sensors - their Drop & Gain model. The black plastic covers sit very nicely into the rings.

The new bridge design articulates much like a tune-o-matic type bridge with the exception that it carries the design elements of the pickup rings, as does the other hardware.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Fabulous Stuart!

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Design and function plus the added detail of achieving the silver lining with the sanded aluminum; makes perfect sense, but never would have thought of that. Can't wait to see the body you fit these to.

There's a preview... viewtopic.php?f=10123&t=41845

The silver edged hardware goes WAY back... Edelbrock, and a half dozen other manufacturers, do this on racing parts.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Stuart,
now that you point it out, I've got a 1970 Mach I in the garage (basket case) and several of the parts have the silver edged hardware including the valve covers. But there you go - I never made the connection either.

So, Stuart.... wanna make some neat Studebaker parts on the side?
Could be lucrative, ya know.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Cars and guitars eh...oh well

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Ya well...how am I supposed to control what pops out when I push the button?

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Studebaker....hmmmmm

If I remember in the morning I'll take a pic for you. Got a pattern sitting in the office currently for some sort of studebaker part. Forget what it is though.

Dang! Those look really cool! Nice design, and execution!

Looks great Stuart,
How do the rings mount to the body? some sort of hidden fixing?

Very impressive indeed. Every once in a while when I see what can be done with CNC I start thinking that I should be learning how to do this. Then I go do some reading in the CNC part of the forum and become so intimidated that I'm cured.

Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

nice professional looking photography as well...

I"ll echo what everyone else is saying, they look really great!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

You know....I don't really care for string tees either. I may find they aren't necessary but if so, I thought I'd take them down the road a little...design wise.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

The ring is screwed into the cavity through the two visible holes. They mount it and adjust the height also. There are springs under the pickup.

_________________
I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Thank you, Gents for the nice comments. Very encouraging!

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

beautiful, beautiful stuff!!

Beautiful work Stuart.

Not trying to be a douche, but I feel obligated to give some constructive criticism, just one a-hole's opinion, fwiw.

The pointer knobs look very cool up close but when viewed from a distance they loose something & look sort of generic, imo.

Again, I'm not trying to be an arse and I can only imagine how much time has gone into these at this point but I think you are the type of person who appreciates honest feedback.

Again (redundant, redundant), just one a-hole's opinion.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I'm always open to criticism. There's no way to grow if you're closed off to it.

I like to have things grow on me the closer I get to them. Comes from spending half a career using magnification I suppose. In any case...I wouldn't have any idea how to make the knobs appeal more at a greater distance. Maybe different colors? Idk. Any ideas?

There's no question about wear. Using a pick would wear the ring eventually but the Lace Sensors have a black plastic cap and it will sit 1/8" higher than the ring. I imagine that cap will wear faster than the lower ring. I guess rings on fingers are the worst enemy. If I stick to black I can hard anodize....which is a great deal more durable than soft. These are soft anodized parts. I figure I'll see how things wear before I go to a hard anodize. You can't get the wide pallet of colors with hard anodize.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

i understand the anodized finish was ground off, leaving a smooth shiny surface in relief areas- but on the anodized surfaces, did you have to hand finish them smooth first, to remove mill marks, or is the CNC machine that good that it can produce "ready for paint" parts...?

Don't know about Stuarts feeds speeds an stepovers but it's completely possible to have parts ready right off the machine. If not you can get it ready with very minimal work right off the CNC. My guess is that he is taking the proper steps to not do any hand finishing.

Very cool! That kind of work will class up any act.

Those were all anodized without any hand work. The machine is a 13,000 lb. production machine. It's very accurate so with proper planning, machining marks can be minimized or eliminated. A lot of it has to do with the tool selection...and having a decent library of choices.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic